OUR PLOT ON REDHILL ALLOTMENT (plot29)

An update

2009-07-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

Wow its been soooo long since I was on here, sorry about that, ive just been sooo busy with the allotment, animals and home...lol.. here are some pics that i have taken over the last couple of months

And more Planting and Diggin

2009-04-23T10:47:00.001-07:00

Today, I planted some more Beetroot, Cabbages, couple of Rasberry bushes and also some sunflowers. The weather was beautiful and didnt realise how hot it was as i got quite burnt, naughty me! My mum spotted a really weird bug that none of us have seen before, the best way to describe it is... like a wasp in size with no sting but a red coloured body with blacck stripes, the wings were pretty much like a moths wings, ooh and it was good at playing dead, then flew off! anyone got any ideas?

Planting has started

2009-04-11T00:12:00.001-07:00

Done quite well this week, most of the digging has been done, planted my Potatoes, broad beens, onion sets, 1 lot of peas. and got my Bean poles ready. When i planted my potatoes, I had dug it a few weeks earlier then covered it with black weed supressent, and wow i must say found it much easier to plant in, the soiil was lovely and soft, unlike where my peas were going which wasnt covered, so thats a lesson learnt for me... Dig then cover for a few weeks before planting!
I have also sown seed of lettuce, white turnip and beetroot. below are a few pics...

Plastic Green house BLEW Down!!!

2009-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well it had to happen didnt it, yep my plastic greenhouse finaly blew down in last weekends wind :( Thing is it looks really bare without it...lol and I cant decide what to put there instead.
In my greenhouse at home (yep that ones still standing...Just! ) I have my potatoes chitting, and the seedlings ive sown are...

Early peas,
Curly kale
Broadbeans
Sweetcorn
Mustard
Iceburge Lettuce
Tumbling tomatoes
Peppers (green)
Red Cabbage
Mixed Cabbage
Global Artichokes
Cardoons
sweetpeas

Below are some pics.....

Helping out on the future pond area of our site

2009-03-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

Me & Mum have offered to help out on the Community pond area on our site. Our first job was to have a bonfire with all the trees that had been cut down around this area, well.... could we get the bonfire lit, we tried 3 times!!! even Vasu hepled us but still no luck, just as we thought we had it going it just went out :(, so now we are waiting for Bob to help us, im sure he will get it going... BOB HEEEEEELP!!!!!

Coldest February for a Decade

2009-02-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well this February has been the coldest for about 10yrs. We have had snow on the ground most of it, but last week did manage to get up the allotment as the snow finaly melted, we had been on the beg for wood chippings from the council and they brought quite a few loads so we made the most of it and filled all our pathways with it,wow it was hard work must of lost some weight that day :) once we had finished i must say it looked like we had more paths than garden...lol, will put pics up soon as i get a new card reader.I had set some seeds at home too, they are tomatoes,raddish, global artichokes,coz lettuce, broadbeans and peas.Hopfully not sown them too early, but couldntn wait.

Happy New Year

2009-01-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Well I cant wait for spring now, Ive already got my seeds ready and im thinking of having some raised beds this year, so am looking out for some planks, I have already got 2 scaffolding boards donated kindly by a couple of workmen who were painting the gable ends on my house, And my brother-in-law has said hes got some I can have too. January 2009 has been very cold infact as cold as -12 some places in the UK, our lowesst was -9 I think. The ground is very solid, i have added some Manure also some straw and chicken manure from my hen house, hopefully this will be ready to be dug in soon. My Brussel sprouts were a flop but my chickens are loving them...lol.
I have actually sown some Lettuce, spring onions and raddish in the polytunnel ( this is on the plot that we are sharing with Bob) And i have brought a contonasta to plant at the front of the polytunnel just for the wildlife really
will update as soon as i have some more news.

Not much happening

2008-11-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

Well not much happening on the allotment at the moment, have dug over the beds and added some manure, and on our plot with Bob have added some Lettuce, raddish and spring onions in the polytunnel. Outside have planted my onions and garlic, while mum has been finishing the path from the poly tunnel to the compost heap at the bottom of the plot, oh and we have sorted the raspberry cage out too.

Bonfire night at our allotment

2008-11-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

We had a really good turn out for bonfirenight at our allotment even though the weather was wet and cold! There was lots of food and someone had made a lovely pumpkin curry soup. Lots entered for the carved pumkin competition aswel, which Vasues daughter won. Also the kids joined in with a ghost walk.

some pics below...

Octobers Harvest

2008-10-26T02:44:00.000-07:00

Wow just look at what we are still getting from our allotment in October!

we juiced some of the apples and with the rest we made "Apple and Beetroot Crumble" got the idea and recipe from "River Cottage.. see the pictures here...http://louthesmallestsmallholder.blogspot.com/

Autumn at the Allotment

2008-10-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well its now Autumn and the allotment is starting to look a bit bare, My sweetcorn arent doing aswel as I hoped :( but the cabbages are coming along nicely. Leaves and apples are covering the pathways... good job ive brought a juicer...lol. Ive taken down the beans and have added some mustard seeds for "Green Manure". Over our other one (Half with Bob) I have finished digging and planted onion sets, cauliflowers and garlic we have also relaid the path with Bob and mum has started on the back bit. Back on ours, I cant decide wether to cover the bits i've dug or leave uncoveredbelow are some up to date pics.

pickled the beetroot

2008-09-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well today i have been at home all day because my boy hasnt been well... yep im getting withdrawel symtoms but then again i did manage to pickle some beetroot and prepare our allotment dinner... the kids love their allotment dinners, good job else i wouldnt know what to do with all the veg..lol.. mind you i think my family, friends and neighbours are enjoying my veg too :)
im really enjoying growing my own veg,collecting eggs from my chickens, recycling, collecting rainwater and composting everything i can ..im becoming a very "green" person and loving it!

Dug up the last of my potatoes

2008-09-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

well yesterday at the allotment I dug up the last of my potatoes, they should last me for a few weeks, I also picked loads of beans... im giving them away to everyone as ive had so many of them. I also picked some more beetroot, which im going to cook and pickle today. At home my peppers are coming along nicely and are now turning an orangy yellow colour, the mixed lettuce leaves are coming along too as are the fennel and cardoon plants. As for the chickens, they are board cause ive not let them out today because its raining :(
photos below.

OUR OPEN DAY

2008-09-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well it rained the whole day but we werent going to let that spoil our day! as it happened quite a few people turned up and most of the empty plots have now been taken which is good news, we had quite a few stalls aswel like, books, veg, craft and not forgetting the burger and cake stall ;)

here are a few photos from the day....

these two loved the rain and def made the most of it bless them.

The burger/hotdog stall... very tasty too!

This is vasue (on the left) my very friendly plot neighbour

The craft and tombola stall

The veg stall

Iris on the right (the site manageress)

this is Bob with the preserved jams

this is Vasues daughter Kineka aged 14yrs she came 3rd with her plot number plaque, beautiful it was too!

My Scarecrow came 3rd on our open day

2008-09-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

whoooaaaaaaa my scarecrow came 3rd on our open day, thanks to my good friend lissa who made it for me ;)

here he is.....

Allotment Open day..6th september

2008-09-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

Our allotment is having an open day tomorrow with a few competitions and stall, really looking forward to it..if your interested in going the details are below...
Redhill Allotment Site
Date... 6th september
Time.... 12.00pm - 4.00pm
Location.... on Abbey Road (A6) just north of the Redhill Circle roundabout.too see a map go here...http://www.redhillallotments.co.uk/contact.html

Latest Pictures of the Allotment

2008-09-04T05:28:00.000-07:00

These are the latest pictures of our allotment taken in August, as you can see the sweetcorn is really doing well now and we have had sooooo much veg in the short time we have been doing this...The kids are even asking for what we call "Allotment Dinners" they love it and it couldnt be better for them as we dont use any chemicals whats so ever!

finally reaping the rewards

2008-08-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well here is a basket food ive grown and going to put on my plate. There is Lettuce, peas,beetroot and onions, not bad hey :)

We also created the carpark/dumping space by adding weed supresant then bark, we have also now have a bench there which isnt in the photo as the photo was taken last week.

Planted More veg

2008-07-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well over the last month we have been weeding, diggin, weeding and more digging but also we have planted lots more veg. Think we are getting addicted to allotmenteering as we seem to be there more than home...lol.. below are some more pics.

Pigeons ate all me cabbages & brussels !!!

2008-06-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

well on Monday 16th June I went to my allotment after not being up there for a few days to find the pigeons had eaten all my cabbages and brussels !!! oooooh i was soooo disheartened, but "Bob" one of the other allotmenteers came to my rescue and gave me some more, thats the thing with "Redhill allotments" everyone is soooo friendly and willing to help out! so this time i made sure that i caged the veg seedlings in, you watch the bloody slugs will eat them now!!... haha, will get some pictures up soon so watch this space.
On a better note..... my peas, onions and lettuce are doing great :) the lettuce could do with being picked but they make my allotment look really good....haha.
The tadpoles in my pond are getting really big now aswel and some have back legs, so wont be long before they turn into froglets. Also alot of other pondlife has found its way in too :)

The ploughman came

2008-06-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

6TH June 2008

Today I finished the new pond that i started, and also added some tree mulch to make a bit of a pathway.

Also today I put some more cabbages in that "fred and Bob" friends of my allotment gave to me, thanks guys hope the slugs dont get them this time!

Here are the latest pics from the 15th May till today 6th June...
mums half, shes made a start with peas

my goosberry bushes

my cabbages

My son "Connor" is growing raddish, onions and carrots under the cloche, hes only 7 but really wants to grow stuff :)

THE 15TH MAY 2008
Well on the 15th May the ploughman came :) oooh it made life sooo much easier, he ploughed it then rotavated it, but you would of thought he could of weeded it aswell !!! lol

My First Planting of Veg !!!

2008-05-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

yippeeeee I planted some veg...lol

Well with the plow not turning up i was loosing interest so I decided it was time I planted something to keep me going. so i dug a small area which was really hard work because the ground was really dry and hard. I then put up a few canes and put some string round ready for some Tomatoe plants that my neighbour plot friend "Vasue" ( sorry if i spelt her name wrong) said she would give me, I then planted some onions that I had already started off at home, Then some Radish and Also Carrots.. I must admit the little area is that small I could of fitted it in my very small garden but hey Its a start! my mum joked that it looked like the kids patch... haha.

The sheds up

2008-05-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

well over the last 2 weeks we have managed to get the shed up :) we still need to get a window in but cant decide whether to have glass or plastic. We have done quite a bit of digging too, the plow man was suppose to come on Monday 12th of May but let us down, hes now booked again for 19th May.

The Clearing

2008-04-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

well last Monday and Tuesday me & mum worked on clearing more grass tuffs, brambles and weeds, we also got the old ramshacle of a shed took down ready for our newer shed that someone kindly donated to us. We cleared some branches from the trees at the back and trimmed the gooseberry bushes back that were there.

The Start

2008-04-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

12th of April me and mum acquired an allotment, were we mad? its full of rubbish, brambles, weeds, grass tuffs a broken shed and lots of unlevel ground!.... well I suppose its a challenge..lol.

Iris the steward told us that if we cleared most of the rambles, rubbish, grass tuffs and made sure there wasn't any metal stuff lying around then she would get it ploughed and rotavated for us, so the following Tuesday we started the task.